BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 573
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 573 (Alarcon)
          As Amended August 25, 2000
          Majority vote

           SENATE VOTE  :24-10  
           
           EDUCATION           12-0        APPROPRIATIONS      20-0        
           
           
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          |Ayes:|Mazzoni, Leach, Campbell, |Ayes:|Migden, Campbell,         |
          |     |Correa, Davis, Honda,     |     |Ackerman, Alquist,        |
          |     |Nakano,                   |     |Aroner, Ashburn, Brewer,  |
          |     |Robert Pacheco, Scott,    |     |Cedillo, Corbett, Davis,  |
          |     |Strom-Martin, Wildman,    |     |Kuehl, Maldonado, Papan,  |
          |     |Zettel                    |     |Romero, Shelley, Thomson, |
          |     |                          |     |Wesson, Wiggins, Wright,  |
          |     |                          |     |Zettel                    |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
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          SUMMARY  :  Establishes a state-mandated pilot project through the  
          Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) to provide  
          professional development to new teachers in hard to staff  
          schools through the use of telecommunications-based distance  
          learning, satellites and videoconferencing.  As amended August  
          25, 2000 this bill also amends AB 2881 (Wright), Chapter 77,  
          Statutes of 2000, to include instructor-led, interactive online  
          training in the English Language Development Professional  
          Institutes.

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Establishes the English Language Acquisition Program which is  
            designed for schools maintaining grades 4 to 8, inclusive, and  
            under which English Language Development Professional  
            Institutes provide instruction for school teams from each  
            school participating in the program.

          2)Provides for the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment  
            Program (BTSA) to be jointly administered by the State  
            Department of Education and the Commission on Teacher  
            Credentialing.  This program provides professional support for  
            first and second-year teachers who are in need of assistance  
            in preparing for the realities of classroom teaching.  The  







                                                                  SB 573
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            Governor's Budget proposes $72 million for BTSA in 1999-00, an  
            increase of approximately $4.3 million to ensure that all of  
            the estimated 24,000 first and second-year certificated  
            teachers are served by BTSA programs.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  $1 million appropriated from the General Fund to  
          LACOE to implement the pilot project.

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "a high percentage of  
          teachers in urban schools are either newly credentialed or are  
          teaching under an emergency credential. Students in the most  
          challenged educational environment are most likely to have  
          under-trained teachers.  SB 573 is one of my efforts to provide  
          more experienced teachers for our hard to staff schools."

           Analysis prepared by  :  Margaret Merritt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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